From The Nation , February 10, 2004

 

Balancing Sexual Desire and Safety

 

A new film project looking at sexual attitudes and behaviours as the ways to prevent AIDS will be on screen from this Friday to Sunday at the EGV Metropolis cinema on Rajdamri Road.

The "Nang Man Rood" ("Love Hotel Films") project will feature 17 short films produced by university students as part of the Aids Access Foundation (AAF) HIV/AIDS awareness education campaign for Thai youngsters, which is supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Thailand's public Aids campaign of the early 1990s has often been held up as a model for other countries to follow, but in recent years complacency about the disease has led a rise in the number of people contracting HIV, showing the importance of an ongoing education campaign.

"Talking about the threat of the disease itself is not enough. We hope that there will be more communication about sex and more film productions that help communicate sexually-related issues especially those that are from youngsters' perspectives," says Jeeranuch Premchaiporn, campaign director of the AAF.

The short films all address the theme of desire and safety in sex, looking at issues around sexual concepts, sex education and communications, sexual pleasure and choice.

Also at the weekend event there will be talks on how the film tackle the subject of Desire, Safety and Gender by Thammasat University lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies, Kamjorn Luiyapong, the film director Jira Malikul, and students from several universities.

And beginning next month the "Love Hotel Films" will tour the Kingdom until June, and be screened in Bangkok again from July 11 to 16 at the 15th International Aids Conference being held at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani.

For free tickets to this weekend's event, call (02) 372-2113-4.

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